AR Philosophy > Morality of AR > Speciesism - Index

New evidence suggests that to be truly human is to be partly wolf 
11/29/02

Robert McGhee is the Curator of Archaeology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and a patron of the Wolves Ontario! Project. I highly recommend everyone to read his brilliant article, 'Co-Evolution: New evidence suggests that to be truly human is to be partly wolf', printed in the current issue (Winter 2002) of Alternatives Journal.

'If humans domesticated the wolf, is it not equally probable that wolves domesticated humans? '

McGhee writes about the pre-historical association between humans and wolves, examining how these interactions may have influenced evolution.

Co-operative work patterns, devotion to family and social groups and superior communication skills are all characteristics that our early ancestors had to develop as they evolved from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. These are the very same characteristics biologists mention when describing their fascination with wolves.

'If the arguments from prehistory are correct, we might begin to think of wolves not as wilderness neighbors, but as our backwoods cousins.

And with this recognition of kinship, there comes a responsibility to protect our distant relatives in the forest. Our species has persecuted and continues to persecute wolves for entirely irrational reasons. In view of the debt that humanity may owe to wolves, perhaps for our very existence as the dominant species on earth, the time has come to make amends.'

Alternatives Journal is a quarterly magazine of news and analysis on environmental thought, policy and action produced by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo.